Charlie to the Emergency Room!!

No. no, there is nothing wrong with Charlie. I just know there is so much competition between blogs and bloggers that I needed something catchy to attract readers. As my high school journalism teacher always told me, go with the strong lead. And of course in today's journalism, that lead does not even have to be true.

As you can tell, this is not Katie blogging. While Katie and Clint eat bonbons in Paris, Charlie has gone to Camp Gramps at Bud and Ali's. I am Katie's father, posting for her (although she may disown me after she sees what we have done to her son).

We decided that Charlie needed to get his own way this week. We think kids should be spoiled rotten by grandparents and then returned to the parents for recovery. We decided to start with his diet. I mean, really, a kid raised on peas, chicken, whole grain bread, blueberries and the like. Where is the good old American food?

Here is a picture of Charlie with his breakfast buffet. he could not of course eat it all, but this gives you an idea of the selection:

Charlie then made his choice for a main course. Breakfast of Champions, right? The good thing is that it also gives him lots of energy for the grueling activities at Camp Gramps.



Katie and Clint's safety consciousness is a little over the top as well. Katie even had us install a gate at the bottom of our long stairs. The problem is that Charlie loves to climb stairs...over and over. Of course while doing that, he is also expending lots of energy which means he sleeps well and Papa and Ali get lots of respite from busy kids. So to encourage stair climbing, we just hit on the simple idea of leaving the gate open so Charlie can climb whenever he wants. Of course the climbing goes great; it is just that he comes down a little fast (he hasn't quite figured downstairs yet). However he is tough and cries it out well.


This is one of the few times we actually noticed him on the stairs. See how proud he is! Who could take that away from a kid?


I also do not care what the law says; I do not think 11 months, 2 weeks of age is too young to learn to drive. Of course we started relatively slowly--in a golf cart at Starcke Park Golf Course. Here is Charlie going full speed ahead:

He cannot quite reach the pedals but, boy, can he steer! As long as I keep the throttle at full speed, we just go wherever he takes us. Of course we did take out a junior high golfer and a small shrub but nobody's perfect...and he is just learning. I expect he will never be satisfied with a car seat again!

The only problem that we had is that Charlie was supposed to caddy for me. I am used to supportive caddies, encouraging you even when you are not playing well. Here is a picture of Charlie's technique; notice the body language after I hit a bad bunker shot. He would not even look at me.


And he was reluctant to tend the pin. Here he takes his own sweet time getting to the green:


There are some benefits though to having a young strong boy around. We gave him a lawnmower cleverly disguised as an Easter present and turned him loose. Saved me $50 on the yardman this week.


Seriously though we are loving having Charlie. He is a joy, almost always happy and bringing a sunny smile to us at any moment. He is constantly active but also very rewarding with the love he radiates. I had forgotten how much an 11-month-old eats, sleeps and poops but Charlie has reminded us. We have even more respect for Katie and Clint ( and all young parents) as they persist in this most important of human jobs. There is no better feeling than holding that sweet tyke and reading him a bedtime story.

I am going to sign off now. I have never blogged before; I had no idea how tiring and demanding it is. Fortunately Charlie can now get me a beer from the refrigerator and bring it back to me in his teeth. I just hope that opener does not pinch his fingers again.